19: Chapter 19 Daily Training and Hidden Strength

The training for the Elite Program was completely different from what Wang Pingan had imagined.

He thought it would be that kind of militarized devil mode, where you wake up at five every day, run a ten-kilometer armed cross-country, and then practice boxing until you drop.

As it turned out, it was nothing like that.

There was no reveille here, nor was there mandatory training.

Everything depended on self-discipline.

If you wanted to sleep until noon, no one would bother you.

If you wanted to lie in the dormitory playing games, no one would say a word about it either.

But the prerequisite was that you had to have the capital to do so.

You had to ensure that, in the monthly assessment, you wouldn't be beheaded by the guillotine known as "last-place elimination."

Wang Pingan understood this on the very first day.

This place was a hundred times crueler than he had imagined.

This wasn't a school at all.

It was a jar for raising venomous insects.

Eight top geniuses from all over the city were just eight poisonous insects thrown into this jar.

Resources were plentiful.

Spirit crystals, nutrient solutions, high-tech training facilities—everything was available.

But you had to fight for them, snatch them yourself.

Every morning, when Wang Pingan opened his eyes, he could see those few animals torturing themselves on the training ground before dawn broke.

That short-haired hottie named Su Yue ran on the speed test track every day like an electric mouse, and it was said she was challenging the Galaxy Star youth 100-meter hurdle record.

Those twin brothers, one named Qin Shan and one named Qin Hai, spent every day in the battle room, brawling with each other until they were bruised and swollen, as if they were mortal enemies.

Then there was that scholarly-looking guy with glasses, Zhao Hao; he never did strenuous exercise, just sat cross-legged in the meditation room for a whole day. Wang Pingan had scanned him with the system, and that guy's mental energy fluctuations were as strong as a small signal tower.

The most perverted one of all was Lin Zhan.

That taciturn human-shaped beast who was as sturdy as a calf.

His daily training regimen was simple and brutal.

Weightlifting.

Under double gravity, he lifted those strange-shaped stone locks made of high-density alloy.

He lifted from morning until night.

Sweat soaked a large patch of the floor beneath his feet, but he didn't even frown.

Wang Pingan muttered to himself.

These people were the kings of involution.

Compared to them, the effort he put in during his senior year of high school was practically a kindergarten kid playing in the mud.

However, he wasn't panicked.

He actively integrated into this atmosphere of extreme involution.

He woke up on time, trained on time, and ate on time every day.

He enjoyed the bittersweet and satisfying feeling his body had after being tempered to its limits time and time again.

He enjoyed even more watching his strength quietly grow in secret, at a speed that none of them could comprehend.

...

On the third day of entering the base, the first baseline test began.

The location was the gravity room.

Instructor Chen Feng stood with his arms crossed in front of a group of boys and girls, his eternal poker face revealing no emotion.

"Today's test is very simple."

"In a double gravity environment, three basic tests: strength, speed, and reaction."

"I need to see everyone's true level."

"Don't hide anything from me, and don't try to play any smart games. Your little tricks don't work on me."

His gaze swept across each person's face.

"Who's coming first?"

"I will!"

Su Yue was the first to step out.

She tossed her neat short hair, her face carrying an unyielding arrogance.

She walked to the strength tester, took a deep breath, crouched slightly, and then delivered a whip kick, slamming it hard into the sandbag.

"Bang!"

A crisp explosion rang out.

[365 kg]

This result was quite good for a girl who specialized in speed.

Su Yue was fairly satisfied herself; she clapped her hands and walked off the testing platform, and as she passed Wang Pingan, she provocatively lifted her chin at him.

"Newbie, it's your turn."

Next, the others went up one by one.

Of the twin brothers, Qin Shan hit 455 kg, and Qin Hai hit 450 kg, their results neck and neck.

The bespectacled Zhao Hao looked weak, but he also punched out a result of 410 kg, proving that those with powerful mental energy also had far superior control over their bodies than ordinary people.

Soon, it was Lin Zhan's turn.

He still had that silent demeanor as he walked out of the queue and loosened his shoulders.

He walked to the tester and, unlike the others, didn't use his full strength; he just stood there casually and punched.

The movement even looked a bit slow.

But the moment his fist made contact with the sandbag.

"Boom!"

A dull, deafening roar, like an ancient war drum being struck, echoed throughout the gravity room.

Everyone's heart skipped a beat along with that sound.

The numbers on the tester soared wildly.

Finally, it settled steadily at—

[580 kg]

The entire gravity room fell silent.

Even Su Yue put away her playful expression, her eyes solemn.

580 kilograms!

Achieving this result in a double gravity environment.

This meant that Lin Zhan's punch in a normal state was already infinitely close to a late-stage Second-Rank Martial Artist!

This guy was a monster!

"Next, Wang Pingan."

Instructor Chen Feng's voice broke the silence.

Instantly, everyone's gaze focused on Wang Pingan.

As the last one to join, and a newcomer who entered through the legendary method of "breaking through in the heat of battle," everyone was curious about what level his strength was really at.

Wang Pingan felt the scrutiny and pressure in those gazes.

He walked to the tester and, imitating Lin Zhan, didn't do much preparation.

He mobilized the blood qi within his body.

Then, he threw a punch.

"Bang!"

The sound wasn't small, but compared to Lin Zhan's punch, it was clearly much thinner.

[400 kg]

The numbers froze.

Not bad, not good.

But this result caused many people present to catch their breath.

You have to know, Wang Pingan had only just broken through to Second-Rank Martial Artist 3 days ago; hitting this result in a double gravity environment was not weak at all.

Instructor Chen Feng nodded, his face still expressionless, but a flash of approval shone deep within his eyes.

The strength test ended, followed by speed and reaction.

For these two, Wang Pingan didn't hold back anymore.

In the speed test, his 100-meter dash time ranked sixth among the eight.

And in the final reaction test, facing beams of light shooting randomly from all directions.

His performance stunned the entire room.

His body was like a precision machine with a perfect program input.

Every dodge, every block, was just right, without the slightest bit of wasted movement.

That control over his body, that near-instinctive combat intuition, made the eyelids of the other geniuses twitch.

In the end, his comprehensive score for the reaction test topped everyone, ranking first!

The test ended.

Instructor Chen Feng called Wang Pingan aside.

"I have a general understanding of your situation."

Instructor Chen Feng looked at him and said in his habitual, flat tone.

"Your strengths are very obvious—technique, reaction, combat intelligence—all are top-tier. I can tell you've put in hard work on martial arts."

Wang Pingan chuckled inwardly.

Hard work?

My biggest hard work was picking up trash in the scrap heap.

"Your weaknesses are also very prominent."

Instructor Chen Feng changed the subject.

"Your foundation is too weak."

"Your strength does not match the technique you displayed. It's like a three-year-old child wielding a hundred-pound hammer; it looks scary, but in reality, it's full of openings."

"That breakthrough of yours in the heat of battle must have overdrawn quite a bit of your potential. For this next period, don't rush to pursue realm, but focus on polishing your blood qi and solidifying your foundation."

"Remember what I said before: on the path of martial arts, haste makes waste."

These words hit exactly what Wang Pingan wanted to hear.

This was the exact effect he wanted!

He wanted everyone to think that his "foundation was weak" and that he "needed to polish slowly."

Only then could he secretly, frantically use his pay-to-win points to "solidify his foundation" right under everyone's noses.

"Yes! Thank you for the guidance, Instructor!"

Wang Pingan put on an "I've been taught" expression, almost bowing to Instructor Chen Feng on the spot.

...

After the baseline test, Wang Pingan's "persona" was firmly established.

A "specialized" genius with invincible technique.

This label was neither bad nor good.

It allowed him to keep his status without being eliminated during the assessments.

And it successfully removed him from the spotlight of being the "strongest newcomer."

Everyone's attention remained on the silent-as-a-mountain Lin Zhan.

As for Wang Pingan, he was happy to be left alone.

While going through his high-intensity daily training, he silently observed everyone in the base.

He discovered that these geniuses were all big spenders.

Every day after training, Su Yue would drink a whole bottle of pricey "Grade A Gene Repair Fluid".

The twin brothers treated spirit crystals like candy; during breaks, each would hold one in their hand and absorb it vigorously.

Wang Pingan did some mental math.

At their rate of consumption, the money spent on cultivation in a month would be at least a hundred thousand star coins.

And that was just for daily consumption, not including those even more precious pills and natural treasures.

He couldn't help but sigh.

Martial arts was indeed a money-burning path.

Without money, you don't even have the qualifications to be a genius.

However...

Watching them, a strange sense of superiority welled up in Wang Pingan's heart.

You spend your family's money, use the top-tier resources, but how many points can your blood qi value increase in a month?

Twenty points? Thirty points?

Impressive, right?

And what about me?

Wang Pingan thought of that lovely, money-scented pile of trash in the West City Scrap Yard.

The weekend.

While everyone else was still sweating in the base or returning home to enjoy family warmth.

Wang Pingan, once again, put on his worn-out "work clothes", shouldered his black "treasure-hunting backpack", and boarded the public shuttle heading to the West City Scrap Yard.

Going to the scrap yard now wasn't called scavenging anymore.

It was called stocking up.

Using his spare time and combining the results of multiple scans, he had already drawn up an extremely detailed "West City Scrap Yard High-Value Energy Source Distribution Map" on his personal terminal, which could be called a treasure map.

On the map, different colored dots marked every location with an energy reaction exceeding fifty points.

It even clearly marked the best infiltration routes, blind spots for surveillance, and the patrol patterns of the foreman, Zhao Dahai.

Professional.

He was now the most professional scavenger.

An hour later.

Wang Pingan, carrying a heavy backpack, quietly slipped out from an inconspicuous corner of the scrap yard.

Inside the backpack were three scrapped warship energy cores, a section of high-strength alloy drive shaft, and five or six parts whose names he didn't know, but which had decent energy reactions.

Back home.

Locking the door and drawing the curtains were done in one smooth motion.

He dumped all his "spoils" onto the floor.

Then, he sat cross-legged and began his favorite, and also the most unpretentious, part of the process.

"Absorb!"

【pay-to-win points + 80】

"Absorb!"

【pay-to-win points + 120】

...

When the last energy core turned into dust.

The balance of pay-to-win points on his system panel skyrocketed to an astonishing number.

【pay-to-win points: 1855】

He was rich!

Looking at this number, Wang Pingan felt the blood in his entire body heating up.

He clearly remembered Instructor Chen Feng saying that for a Second-Rank Martial Artist, the energy required to increase one point of basic attributes was several times that of a First-Rank Martial Artist.

He tried giving an order to the system.

"Increase strength by one point."

【Command received, strength attribute + 0.1, pay-to-win points consumed: 3】

Wang Pingan's eyelids twitched.

As expected!

It got expensive!

It was three times as expensive!

When he was First-Rank, one pay-to-win point could increase strength by 0.1.

Now, it needed three points!

In other words, to increase one full attribute point, he needed to consume a full thirty pay-to-win points!

This consumption was simply a bottomless pit!

But Wang Pingan, instead of feeling frustrated, was even more excited.

Expensive meant it was strong!

Expensive meant just how terrifying the gold content of his golden finger was!

He took a look at his attribute panel.

【Recovery: 30.0】

blood qi value, 300 points.

Look at Lin Zhan again.

That guy's blood qi value was 385 points.

Recovery attribute, probably around 38.5.

The difference, 8.5 points.

The corners of Wang Pingan's mouth curled up uncontrollably.

"System, add points for me!"

"Add 5 points evenly to all five data categories!"

【Command received, ...+ 5.0, pay-to-win points consumed: 750】

A heat flow, purer and more massive than any time before, instantly surged into his limbs and bones.

He could clearly feel the total amount of blood qi in his body, rising crazily in an unreasonable way!

【host: Wang Pingan】

【Realm: Second-Rank Martial Artist (blood qi value 350 / 500)】

【Strength: 35.0】

【Speed: 34.7】

【Physique: 35.1】

【Spirit: 34.7】

【Recovery: 35.0】

【pay-to-win points: 1105】

Very good.

Wang Pingan nodded with satisfaction.

Now, his blood qi value was 350 points.

He was still 35 points away from Lin Zhan.

A perfect distance that could make him feel pressure, but not get left behind.

He didn't continue to increase his blood qi.

He had other uses for the remaining pay-to-win points.

"System, upgrade 【Federal Military Body Boxing】 to the 'Perfect' realm."

【Command received, pay-to-win points consumed: 500, 【Federal Military Body Boxing】 has been upgraded to Perfect.】

In an instant, a massive amount of insight, countless best ways to respond to different situations using this set of basic boxing techniques, flooded his mind like a tide.

If the previous Mastery level had let him practice this set of boxing techniques into his bones.

Then the current Perfect level allowed him to thoroughly grasp the "spirit" of this set of boxing techniques.

He even felt that even with his eyes closed, he could execute the most standard and sharpest killing moves.

This wasn't over yet.

The Elite Base, besides resources, also provided various advanced martial arts techniques.

Wang Pingan had long ago exchanged for a movement technique called 【Phantom Step】 from the base's Martial Arts Pavilion.

This martial art was known for being eerie, unpredictable, and extremely difficult to cultivate.

Su Yue had practiced it for half a year and had only just touched the threshold of "Entry".

And Wang Pingan...

"System, upgrade 【Phantom Step】 to the 'Mastery' realm."

【Command received, pay-to-win points consumed: 300, 【Phantom Step】 has been upgraded to Mastery.】

After doing all this.

Looking at his remaining balance of over three hundred pay-to-win points, Wang Pingan let out a satisfied sigh.

The rest, save it for now.

As a trump card.

Now, his strength on the surface was early Second-Rank, with a blood qi value of three hundred.

His hidden strength was mid Second-Rank, with a blood qi value of three hundred and fifty.

Martial arts, one set of Perfect-level 【Federal Military Body Boxing】, one set of Mastery-level 【Phantom Step】.

He didn't even know himself just how strong he would be if he unleashed his full power now.

The next day, back to the base.

On the training ground, Wang Pingan was practicing 【Phantom Step】 "clumsily", over and over again.

He moved forward, then backward, his footsteps looking chaotic and disorganized, nearly tripping himself several times.

He looked just like an infant who had just learned to walk.

Su Yue, passing by, saw him like this and couldn't help but sneer.

"Hey, newbie."

"【Phantom Step】 isn't something a guy with an unstable foundation like you can practice; be careful not to sprain your ankle."

Wang Pingan looked up and gave her a somewhat embarrassed, honest smile.

"Su Yue, I know it's hard, but I will work hard!"

That serious and persistent look made Su Yue feel a bit embarrassed to mock him again.

She shook her head, muttered "what a weirdo", and turned to leave.

Meanwhile, Lin Zhan, who had been silently lifting weights nearby, swept a glance over here with the corner of his eye.

A faint, imperceptible trace of appreciation flashed in his eyes.

Gifted with talent, yet neither arrogant nor impetuous.

Willing to put in hard work to hone the most difficult movement technique.

This newbie is interesting.

Wang Pingan saw it all.

He lowered his head and continued his "clumsy" practice.

But the corners of his mouth curled into a cunning arc that no one noticed.

He knew.

His plan had already half succeeded.

And he had already found his way to survive among this group of monsters.

That was to become the most inconspicuous and harmless one among them.

Then, in a corner where no one noticed.

Make a big show.